


an act of surrender

by calcelmo



Category: Magic: The Gathering (Card Game)
Genre: Angst, Dissociation, Gen, Infidelity, M/M, Unresolved Emotional Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-08
Updated: 2020-02-08
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:35:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22621120
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/calcelmo/pseuds/calcelmo
Summary: >be gideon jura>find my guy jace beleren spaced out somewhere>he be clingy asf>take him to his good pal ral>weird sexual tension between them>confused_white_guy.gif>i back away and leave them to it
Relationships: Jace Beleren/Ral Zarek, Tomik Vrona/Ral Zarek (Implied)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 13





	an act of surrender

**Author's Note:**

> title from "how to forgive" by tennis  
> idk what im doing i just like collecting cards

Ral clicked his tongue. "What is it?" he said, sounding harsher than he'd intended. He already knew, but he'd take vicious pleasure from hearing the hieromancer describe their mutual friend's dissociative and mute state of craving.

Gideon blinked at him, as though it wasn't obvious; as though the pliant, subdued former Guildpact on his arm wasn't answer enough.

It _wasn't._ That was just Jace, always finding some convenient white knight to collapse against into blissful ignorance and the peculiar gratification of touch. Or at least, that was Ral's Jace. He was bitterly aware of the difference.

"I don't know what's wrong with him," Gideon said stoically. "I went to check in on him, and... it's like he isn't here."

He sounded worried, disproportionately so. Ral took a moment to control the possessive jealousy that sparked inside him.

"There's nothing wrong with him," he shrugged, turning away so he could bite hard into his lip without betraying how shaken he was over this encounter. It had been many, many months since he'd seen Jace. He'd have liked to keep it that way. It seemed nothing and no one would let him escape the telemancer and whatever raw emotion he had spent long enough trying to bury.

"Ral," Gideon said, impatience bleeding into his forced politeness. "I know you have a history, that's why I brought him here. Can you help?"

A history.

Ral turned back around, hands on his hips in deliberation. Jace was still leaning heavily against Gideon, his eyes cast down at the ground.

Gods, won't he even look at me?

"Jace," Ral said.

Jace looked up reflexively. He might have been able to sense Ral's discomfort, or it may have been entirely his own, but it was a struggle to maintain that eye contact. His expression was unguarded, lips parted ready for meaningless apologies to spill forth.

As it was, Jace himself was locked away behind those pretty blue eyes. Ral knew; he'd seen it happen countless times. And always, he'd coaxed him out of it, with soft words and softer touches.

He wasn't feeling any such tenderness today, yet time immemorial could feel his resolve crumbling under the weight of that pleading gaze.

"Can you help?" Gideon repeated gruffly, discomfited by the intense but silent exchange between the two.

Ral sighed.

"Of course," he said, falsely bright. With practiced ease, he caught Jace in his arms. He still melted into the touch. He still circled his arms around Ral's waist, and breathed a soft exhale into the crook of Ral's neck.

He was newly determined to help Jace come back to himself. Then they might finally get to have that long-awaited conversation about Feelings, which Jace had so expertly evaded. It was likely to end badly, but at least it would be cathartic to verbally scorch him to cinders.

Ral had been doing so well in moving past all this, and he'd finally started to heal. He was happy.

Was Gideon really so unaware of what he'd done by bringing this man to his door? The tempest of unchecked desire and hurt that flooded him was so powerful that he didn't doubt Jace would pick up on it.

Let him.

Retreating deeply into the safe recesses of one's mind may be a comfort, but it wasn't fairness. The rest of the world did not get to pick and choose which memories to take solace in, and which to discount. If Ral couldn't forget, why should Jace?  
  



End file.
